decorating for holidays other than Christmas??

[ProudGrandma]

I go all out every year for Christmas...usually decorating the day after thanksgiving...but I do nothing for the rest of the holidays...am I alone...or is there someone else out there that really doesn't bother. It's not that we don't celebrate other holidays...we g trick or treating, we have a thanksgiving turkey, we celebreate the rising of Christ...we just don't decorate.

[Excelsior! Academy]

I generally don't. I do have these grand plans of having some type of holiday themed center piece for the table each month and maybe a wreath for the door, but honestly it doesn't happen. The extent of my decorations.... In October, fabric covered toilet paper pumpkins on top of rafia and fake fall leaves (much cuter than it sounds, I promise!); in November, a Thanksgiving pilgrim and indian set that someone gave me last year; in December, a set of wooden hand carved Twelve Days of Christmas onaments and a 3 foot Christmas tree that we mailed back from doing Christmas in Disney one year. Yep, that's about it. We do have several traditions, though.

[NanceXToo]

Sometimes, if I'm in the mood, I decorate for Halloween. And since we don't celebrate Christmas or any other Christian holidays, that's about the only holiday I (sometimes) decorate for.

 

My neighbors on the other hand, have cutesy decorations and door hangings and wreaths and flags and whatnot for pretty much every holiday and season out there lol.

[momtotkbb]

I decorate for all the holidays - but I was just thinking about it this fall and tried to determine why I do. I guess it's because my mom always decorated for all the holidays - my grandmother did not (Christmas only). Now it's come to be expected that I will do it - even if I don't necessarily feel like it, my children expect that I will so I do. I do like my house decorated and without holiday decorations I don't have as much "stuff" for floral arrangements, etc. I go way overboard with Christmas though, so the other holidays don't seem like I do as much.:001_smile:

[Harriet Vane]

I decorate for Christmas and Easter. That's it. I just don't have the energy or inclination to do the other holidays. However, my mother-in-law decorates for every. single. holiday--no matter how minor. It drives dh nuts, but his mom really enjoys it.

[SweetMissMagnolia]

another one here who wants to have a nice wreath on the door every month or so that coincides with the season/month.....but hasn't happened yet---I have found a few "affordable" wreaths at the craft store but not one for each season yet....haven't found ones that catch my fancy....I have one for valentines/st patrick's/fall/and a few for xmas.....I need some for those inbetween times.........

[Gratia271]

We just decorate for Christmas. My mom decorates for each and every holiday. I don't have the creative flair nor the energy to do so.

[Mrs Mungo]

I have more decorations for Halloween than Christmas. :001_huh: eta: Well, not counting tree decorations.

Edited November 5, 2010 by Mrs Mungo

[linders]

And sometimes St. Paddy's if not too close to Easter. At this point the boys not only expect it but do a lot of it.

[saja1029]

My mother was a total holiday junkie, so the house was decked out for every.single.holiday. No lie. So who do you think inherited this wonderful trait? That's right.little.ol.me. My sister feels scarred from the overdecorating....LOL..and does absolutely nothing at all. Instead, she says I decorate enough for the both of us, and she likes to come and see the display at my house:)

 

Up until this year, I would deck my house out like it was in a magazine. Truthfully, I just loved it. My kids loved it too. But, with homeschooling, I just haven't had the time and I actually didn't decorate for Halloween. My kids were outraged...so we decorated (a little bit) on October 30th. It was a pathetic attempt, but it made them happy and that's all that matters.

[cjbeach]

I'm from Philadelphia. I think decorating your house for anything (holidays, First Holy Communions, Weddings, Graduations, Babies, Phillies/Flyers/Eagles wins) is part of the culture.

It's pretty cool to drive through some dense neighborhoods to find many homes on a block of rowhomes decked out for FIrst Holy Communions one weekend in May when the local parish made their Communion, then see it replayed a few blocks down when another parish made theirs. (Or in Black,white, and Orange in June/July if the Flyers made the playoffs.;))

[Stacia]

I have more decorations for Halloween than Christmas. :001_huh: eta: Well, not counting tree decorations.

 

Yeah, that kind of sounds like me too, lol. We do a big Halloween party each year & have lots of decorations. Dh loves Christmas, so we do lots for that too. But, those are about the only holidays for which we decorate.

 

Just don't have the time or inclination to decorate for other holidays....

[ladydusk]

I tend to decorate more seasonally. I have "fall" decor that lasts us through Halloween and Thanksgiving. I have Christmas stuff (admittedly, lots and lots of Christmas stuff), some of which is "winter" so the house doesn't still look Christmassy at Valentines ;). I have "spring" stuff that goes from March to Memorial Day. Summer brings out the red, white, and blue extras. Some of these things are cloth napkins and tablecloths and other linens. Some are the clings on windows. I try not to go completely overboard, though. A little goes a long way most of the year :)

[Sherry in OH]

I don't decorate for any holiday. At Christmas we put up a tree and hang stockings. We have a few electric candles for in the front windows. Otherwise our decorations are whatever arts and crafts projects the boys have done recently.

 

My mother goes all out for holiday decorations. Fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's, St. Patrick's, Easter, Spring, Patriotic, Summer, if decorations can be purchased for the holiday, she has some. Just thinking about dusting, packing, storing, and unpacking all those decorations makes me tired.

[Impish]

I don't decorate for any holiday. At Christmas we put up a tree and hang stockings. We have a few electric candles for in the front windows. Otherwise our decorations are whatever arts and crafts projects the boys have done recently.

Thats here too. Christmas is it. Sometimes the kids do a Hallowee'en decoration for the front window, and we always carve pumpkins, but thats it. So far anyways ;)

[Carol in Cal.]

I separate Advent from Christmas--we don't put up our tree until the Sunday before Christmas, and decorate it on Christmas Eve, but we have lots of other Christmas decorations up starting December 1 or so.

 

Also, I put out some harvest stuff in September and leave it through Thanksgiving.

 

I usually decorate the table for the Easter season with lots of great eggs and bunnies, starting Easter morning and leaving it for several weeks. I have a few Easter-ish dishes from Williams Sonoma that I just love, but I use them all year round--they are small, lunch size plates and egg shaped ramekins--very practical and also very cute!

 

That's about it.

 

We get poppers in the post-Christmas sales and pop them on New Year's Eve, but we don't decorate for that holiday.

 

I think we do less at home because we do so much at church. I emphasize the church year a ton, and teach it to our Sunday School kids, and so that's really where our focus is.

 

If I were going to add one thing at home, it would probably be some kind of really cool Epiphany focus, but there just aren't very many decorations for that.

[DarcyB]

We start with fall decorations on October 1st that morphs into Christmas Thanksgiving weekend which then morphs into Winter after the Epiphany. Then we generally go all out for St. Pat's day which then morphs into a Resurrection Day theme. Once over, we generally put decorations away for the rest of the spring/summer and start again the next autumn.

[Julie in CA]

Let me just say right from the start that I'm not completely without decorating traditions. I have American flags with which I decorate my front porch and stubbornly stick to flying, no matter how freakin' politically incorrect it increasingly becomes in the liberal zoo of CA (and yes, that's as profane as I ever get, but I'm a bit peeved about the issue :001_huh:). I have a Christmas tree, and a few other Christmas decorations I put out. My favorite is gold letters that spell out "P E A C E" that I put on the mantle over the fireplace. Supposedly it's to celebrate the peace that is Jesus, but as fellow homeschool moms, you and I both know that it's actually a subtle plea intended for my dc...:D

Anyway...

 

My sister-in-law decorates extensively for each holiday/season (we live on the same farm), and when I walked in her house one day about a month ago, I realized I was a bit jealous. Just a little. Her house was clean, beautiful, smelled great, and was seasonally decorated (neither of us do halloween, but she decorates for fall/harvest).

 

Now, I know my house isn't going to be clean like that as long as I have homeschooling kids in my home, but I felt like maybe I should allow myself a taste of what she has by decorating just a little bit for fall. I took a look at what specifically she has, and it turns out that a lot of it is silk flowery things, which I cannot have due to allergies. I also can't really spend money on decorations the way she does. Still, I was feeling deprived, so I hopped on down to our local discount store and here is what I bought:

 

A very large ceramic leaf platter in beautiful fall colors, and an easel-style frame holder so I can stand the platter up on top of my t.v. cabinet. I also bought the smaller candy dish size leaf plate and set that one up next to it.

 

I bought about 8 place mats that are are leaf-shaped and in a variety of fall colors, and arranged them on my front hall table and set a ceramic cookie jar pumpkin there.

 

I bought a beautiful (but cheap) table cloth for my dining room table.

 

I bought one green and one orange kitchen towel, and hung them over my oven handle (wall oven), and then used a piece of ribbon that sort of ties them together and looks cute.

 

I bought two pumpkins that I think are made of wood (one short & fat, one tall & skinny), one of which bears the word "welcome" in pretty black cursive, and I set them together on my hearth with a candle in a lantern I already own.

 

I bought a fragrant candle to burn in my kitchen. I've never done candles, because I was afraid one of my kids (or I!) would burn the house down, but if you look at my sig line you'll see that my kids are probably old enough now.;)

 

Everything I bought was washable in the dishwasher or washing machine. :hurray:

 

Everything I bought can stay out for the fall season, which for me is Oct. 1 thru whenever it's time for Christmas decorating.

 

Everything I bought can be put away for next year.

 

Altogether I spent about $60, which in the economy of my family is an awful lot, but now I think I really am glad I did it. My house isn't over-the-top decorated, but it now has cheerful touches, and shows me to be a person who cares about beauty/aesthetics (and I do care!).

 

I may now go ahead and decorate for other occasions. Maybe. If I can find things that meet the criteria above: washable, relatively cheap, can be saved for next year, etc.

Edited November 5, 2010 by Julie in CA

[Tutor]

I generally "decorate" for each season... fresh flowers or budding branches in spring, bowls of fruit and veggies in summer, pumpkins and leaves in fall, and pine branches, boxwood cuttings, pine cones, and holly in winter. We also have some lights, an advent wreath, and tree for Christmas; a birthday banner and cake mirror cling for birthdays; some mirror cling hearts for Valentine's Day. Pretty minimalist compared to the decking out many I know do.

 

Sometimes my kids will make paper snowflakes (generally the only snow we get down here) or other paper decorations for holidays (there are currently some paper bats hanging from my kitchen ceiling), but what I wrote above is all I plan or do.

[unsinkable]

I'm from Philadelphia. I think decorating your house for anything (holidays, First Holy Communions, Weddings, Graduations, Babies, Phillies/Flyers/Eagles wins) is part of the culture.

It's pretty cool to drive through some dense neighborhoods to find many homes on a block of rowhomes decked out for FIrst Holy Communions one weekend in May when the local parish made their Communion, then see it replayed a few blocks down when another parish made theirs. (Or in Black,white, and Orange in June/July if the Flyers made the playoffs.;))

 

as if.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ducking and running b/c the Sabres are in last place...:lol:

[Ferdie]

I do but pretty simple: special tableclothes for the kitchen table and wreaths for the front door for fall and spring. I also decorate the front entryway table: garland of leaves/pumpkin votives in the fall and table runner/egg tree in spring.

[Carol in Cal.]

A very large ceramic leaf platter in beautiful fall colors, and an easel-style frame holder so I can stand the platter up on top of my t.v. cabinet. I also bought the smaller candy dish size leaf plate and set that one up next to it.

 

I bought about 8 place mats that are are leaf-shaped and in a variety of fall colors, and arranged them on my front hall table and set a ceramic cookie jar pumpkin there.

 

I bought a beautiful (but cheap) table cloth for my dining room table.

 

I bought one green and one orange kitchen towel, and hung them over my oven handle (wall oven), and then used a piece of ribbon that sort of ties them together and looks cute.

 

I bought two pumpkins that I think are made of wood (one short & fat, one tall & skinny), one of which bears the word "welcome" in pretty black cursive, and I set them together on my hearth with a candle in a lantern I already own.

 

I bought a fragrant candle to burn in my kitchen. I've never done candles, because I was afraid one of my kids (or I!) would burn the house down, but if you look at my sig line you'll see that my kids are probably old enough now.;)

 

Everything I bought was washable in the dishwasher or washing machine. :hurray:

 

Everything I bought can stay out for the fall season, which for me is Oct. 1 thru whenever it's time for Christmas decorating.

 

Everything I bought can be put away for next year.

 

Altogether I spent about $60, which in the economy of my family is an awful lot, but now I think I really am glad I did it. My house isn't over-the-top decorated, but it now has cheerful touches, and shows me to be a person who cares about beauty/aesthetics (and I do care!).

 

I may now go ahead and decorate for other occasions. Maybe. If I can find things that meet the criteria above: washable, relatively cheap, can be saved for next year, etc.

 

This sounds really cool!

If you turn out to be allergic to the scented candle (as I would be), you can pour boiling water over a slice apple and some cloves and a cinnamon stick in a pot on your stove, and it will smell divinely like fall all day long. If it dissipates, you can heat it up again. The pricier version is to use boiling apple juice. Bonus is that then you can strain and drink it later, either as hot cider or as cold spiced cider.

 

Also, I have learned that thrift stores are an excellent source of inexpensive seasonal dishes and knick knacks in good condition. This seems to be the kind of thing that people don't use much and then get rid of when they declutter.